In 1802, decades of civil war ended in Vietnam when Nguyen Anh unified the country after his conquests of Hanoi. Taking the name Emperor Gia Long, he and his successors attempted to govern the country according to the principles of Confucianism, which had played an important role in Vietnamese politics and thought for many centuries. The Nguyen emperors’ efforts to stabilize Vietnam and turn it into a model Confucian society led directly to the persecution of Vietnamese Catholics, who, as a result mainly of efforts by French missionaries, numbered 300,000 by the nineteenth century. When Vietnamese Catholics were implicated in a rebellion in 1833, Emperor Minh Mang ordered the imprisonment and execution of converts and European missionaries. Three years later he closed Vietnamese ports to European shipping (sort of reminiscent of an earlier Japan isn't it?). These steps caused the French, who sixty years earlier had helped the Nguyen Dynasty gain power, to send naval vessels and troops to Vietnam, ostensibly to protect Christianity but also to advance French imperialism. Fighting broke out in earnest in 1858, and although the Vietnamese staunchly resisted, Emperor Tu Duc accepted a settlement in 1862 by which he ceded to the French three southern provinces around Saigon.Four years later, an anti-French rebellion broke out in a district west of Saigon, then under the governorship of Phan Thanh Gian, one of Vietnam’s leading statesmen and head of a delegation sent to Paris in 1863 to negotiate with the French government. When he failed to suppress the revolts, the French sent in troops and demanded control of the provinces. In 1867, Phan Thanh Gian acquiesced and then committed suicide, but not before he wrote two letters that I would like you to read (you can read them both by clicking here), one to Emperor Tu Duc and the other to administrators in his district.
After reading the letters, I would like you to consider and discuss the following: What is the basis of Phan Thanh Gian’s hope that the emperor can save Vietnam from further humiliation at the hands of the French? What is Phan Thanh Gian’s view of the French? What evidence of Phan Thanh Gian’s Confucian training do you see in the letter? Why did Phan Thanh Gian decide to acquiesce to the French? Your thoughts…
31 comments:
I think that the last paragraph sums up what Phan Thanh Gian thinks. He thinks that death is what he deserves.wow.
also. Since when did vietnam start modeling a confucianist society?? I though that Vietnamese people tended to reject Chinese influences.
Is China in this time period communist yet? Did they influence part of Vietnam yet? Is this why Vietnam is starting to model a confucianist society? Prill?
Phan Thanh Gian definitely thinks that there's a lot of hope for Veitman. He mentions that the emporer may be able to stop the french because the emperor is much better with things like politics and is more educated than himself. Phan Thanh sees the French as an unstopable force and tells all of his troops to surrender becasue it owuld be foolish to try and fight them. He saw the French's huge war ships and the areas that they had already conquered and just gave up. The confucian values in the letter are things like his beleif in heaven and that humans were given intelligence by a divine force. That was confuciansism wasn't it? I need to review that, they all tend to run together.
How did Confucianism get so involved in Veitnam?
The guy wants his people to surrender under the French and let them control them, but he does not want to lose all pride and so he never wants a French flag to fly where he lives. He thinks the French are only horrible in battle. I think he decided to give up because he knew they would lose since they did not have the power the French did.
I think that Phan has lost all hope that he can defeat the powerful French. He is praying to the gods and hoping that emperors will help them defeat them.
Phan views the French as a powerful war society. He thinks that they our a good society but he does not want to live to see him under there power.
remember guys, season 2, sinification in korea, vietnam, and japan... although vietnam wasn't the most sinified society of the three, it certainly wasn't the least either. for certain vietnam will be influeced by china more than japan.
I can't open the document on my computer in any way. :(
probably you'll need to download the latest version of adobe reader.
Phan Thanh Gian seems really pessemistic. He thought he deserved to die. And, woah I can't believe that Vietnam is starting to model a confucianist society. I remember from, I think, season 3 (not sure) that the Vietnamese completely shunned Chinese thinking and beliefs, so why all of the sudden did they decide to change their thoughts?
Oh yea, Mr. Prill, is tomorrow the last day for test corrections?
once again, they did not, look at your notes and the comment i made above... vietnam took more from china than the japanese did clearly.
tomorrow is the first day of corrections for me actually.
what about the india and motives for imperialism docs below folks??? let's not just jump on this one because it's incredibly short. there is some important stuff below.
also, let's not get sidetracked by the vietnamese adopted confucianism. let's focus on the problem at hand here: FRANCE HAS TAKEN OVER VIETNAM!
Oh okay I forgot. I think I was thinking of Japan not taking ideas from Europe?maybe? I don't know if it was Japan or not, but yea I got it.
Okay, my friend has Ellwanger and said tomorrow was the last day and I wasn't sure. Thanks.
I think that Phan Thanh had a negative look on the situation of france taking over vietnam and almost lost hope for the people, pretty much calling himself a failure..
ha i think that was funny how he said that the French were only bad when if war, and then said to never let the French flag fly about where Phan Thanh Gian will always be.
This is sad. The emeperor has lost all the hope. This shows how europe got way too powerful for other regions who did not get industrialized
It seems like Gian is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He knows they can't defeat the French so he is telling the armies to surrender but he still feels loyalty to the king and by telling the armies to surrender he is causing the king to lose his kingdom. He makes it clear in both documents that he can't live with himself after betraying the king.
AAAAAH! FRANCE IN VEITANM!!! SE ASIA IS IN PERIL!!!
Ok, no on to other documents.
It sucks to be an asian country in the time of imperialism, Vietnam just saw the French as so far superior they just gave up
Well he is definitely playing the "feel sorry for me" card. He acts as if there is no hope at first so he kills himself but then he tells the people to keep fighting to keep the French out without physically fighting. What i dont get is that he kills himself instead of helping keep Vietnam independent. if he thinks it can be done, then shouldn't he help figure out how...?
Phan Thanh Gian tells his troops to surrender, but he does not intend on letting them take his pride. Therefore he ensures that the French flag will not hang in Vietnam. The ending paragraph shows that he has accepted defeat and realizes that he will not be able to beat the french because they are more advanced. I think that Phan should have kept fighting and gotten help from the Chinesse in this situation. At this point, they might havbe had the resources to abolish the Frech imperialism
Basically, i think that thorughout the document he just feels as if he cant do anything to stop the French. He want to but he cant and therefore he considers himself a faliure and thinks he deserves to die becuase there was nothing he could do to help his country.
He seems to think that since the emperor is wise he will find a way out of the situation for the Vietnamse. He is very Confucianist with his "people first" theme, which appears to be his greatest reason for assenting. he sees that if he surrenders, once the French are no loger fighting then his people will suffer less than if he were to be stubborn and keep fighting for a lost cause. For this, he also gives his reason of death: not protecting the territory he was trusted with. he believes that this action, while furthering the future of his people, but he didn't find a way to do his duty fully, so therefore he condemnedhimself to death. i feel like i'm babbling. it all makes so much mre sense in my head than it doe in words, i'm sure.
Am I confused Mr Prill or did Vietnam totally reject confucianism? I know they took some Chinese customs they liked, but I thought they hated Confucianism... I feel bad because its obvious from the letters that the Emperor has lost alot of hope in an independent Vietnam without a French Influence...
Phan Thanh Gian is looking at thinks from a different point of view than the French or the way Western history classes look at Vietnam during this time period. To him the people in Vietnam are real people, his people not just numbers as the French may see it. Therefore he has an invested interest in the well being of the people of Vietnam and himself for that matter and thats why he opposes French influence.
Phan Thanh Gian puts a lot of trust and hope towards the Emperor because of his experience and knowledge of "peace and dissension." Phan views the French as powerful and destructive. Like the British in Africa, the French are claiming lands that do not belong to them. His Confucian training is visible in the constant relation to a Heaven and how men must live according to the ways of Heaven. Phan decides to give up because he knows that the Vietnamese people are not able to defeat the powerful arms of the French. He finds it more reasonable to let them have their way now than to risk any more harm. Although he does choose to cooperate, it doesn't mean that he likes the idea of the French on his home soil.
Personally, I really like this guy. For all I know, we could be related...maybe.
Phan Thanh Gian has defienitely ghiven up all hope. Since the very beginning of the document he showes his submision to the French, but also tells them straight up about their "scrutiny". He sees the french's power and knows he can't do anything about it. Imperialism here isnt jsut messing with lands and boundaries.. it's messing with people's mentalities. God its awful
He hopes that the emperor can win the war and keep the french from taking over vietnam. He views thhe french as powerful and an almost unstopable force.
I do think that he knew that he would never defeat the French so he just killed himself so that he died with some pride.
This Phan Thanh Gian guy seems to be a real coward. He'd rather die than have to pick between fighting the unstoppable force, French army, or surrendering and giving in to what the French want, control of their region. Even though he tells the rest of Vietnam to try and get rid of the French without psychically messing with them, he feels as if he serves no purpose if he's living.
he says h knows nd trust his emperor but wants fo the vietnamese to surrendur because he knows they would lode against he french. and its not like he like the french no he very much dislikes them but to me it seems like he would rather give up peacefully than fight a war he knows they would lose.
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